When the Germans invaded Poland, Jewish teenager Clara Kramer and her family were taken in by the Becks, the ethnically German family next door. Mr. Beck was known to be an anti-Semite, but on hearing that Jews were being led into the woods and shot, Beck sheltered the Kramers and two other Jewish families in a bunker dug out of his basement. This memoir is drawn from 15-year-old Clara's diary, which she maintained for 20 terrifying months spent in hiding, chronicling such events as the house catching fire, Mr. Beck's affair with Clara's neighbor, and the nightly SS drinking sessions in the room above.

"The blend of the young girl’s experience with the insight of the survivor looking back is riveting, especially because there is no idealization—neither of the Jews nor of their rescuers…. Both a gripping thriller and a heartbreaking drama of human kindness, this is sure to become a classic of Holocaust history."—Booklist (starred review)